What the Unions did say

Last week, in advance of my debate with Ged Kearney
(President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions - ACTU), at the COSBOA National Small Business Summit,
my blog listed all the things I guessed Ms
Kearney wouldn't say. I listed things like:

> Admitting the current Royal Commission into trade
union corruption is both timely andnecessarily

> Confirming the Fair Work Commission is not fit
for purpose, and

> Acknowledging our employment relations laws are
hopelessly complex

Well, I am pleased to say I was 100% right! Ms Kearney
didn't say any of the above. But it's what she did say that should send a shiver up the spine of every
hard-working small business employer:

> When told of the concerns many employers have
about the risks and expenses associatedwith unfair
dismissal claims, Ms Kearney said 'there's more chance of your
workplaceburning down than losing an unfair dismissal
claim'. Oh dear. Not very reassuring.

> When reminded of the ridiculous findings
contained in the International Trade Union Confederation's recent Global Rights Index Report - which
found Australians had worse employment-related
rights than workers in Russia and Burkina Faso - the best Ms
Kearney could offer was that I had misstated the
Confederation's name.

> When an audience member asked about the unfair
challenges faced by small businesses v big
businesses, particularly in relation to Enterprise
Agreement-making, Ms Kearney simply said that
Enterprise Agreement-making is a 'democratic process'.
Huh?

While I am certain Ms Kearney is an effective and
passionate advocate of her cause, I am equally certain that the movement she leads is hopelessly
out-of-touch with the realities faced by both employers and employees in modern-day Australia. If I'm
wrong, why has union membership continued to
plummet over the past 10 years? It seems to me that
reasonable-minded Australians are simply voting
with their feet and choosing to have nothing further to do with a
movement that has become increasingly focussed
on power and politics (think Paul Howes, Bill Shorten, and
Rudd/Gillard/Rudd).

Australians - particularly those who own small and
medium-sized businesses - deserve a lot better.

To be fair, it took courage for Ms Kearney to address an
audience comprised of small business owners and
advocates. But her speech only served to reinforce my firmly-held
belief that unions and small businesses have precious little
in common.